Guest Column: Why I’m running Boston

Sunday

Apr 20, 2014 at 2:00 PM

By Paul CrocettiI feel like Iím cramming for the greatest test in the world.

Thanks to a couple of friends, a few weeks ago, I was awarded the chance to run the Boston Marathon on April 21. Given that Iíve been running every day for a while now but havenít exactly been training for a marathon, I gave it a dayís thought and realized, this is an offer I canít refuse.Iíve run Boston before, running for the Alzheimerís Association in 2010, and was not sure I would be doing it again any time soon, though I have finished other marathons since then. I certainly had no thoughts of running it this year. I planned to be out on the course cheering, for sure, but at no point until a few weeks ago did I think, "Iím going to run this race." And suddenly, I get the honor, the pleasure, the privilege to run the most important and exciting Boston thatís ever been run.I must admit, I do feel somewhat hypocritical, as I have complained in recent weeks of some organizations handing out numbers with just a couple of months to go Ė a short amount of time to get ready to run a marathon. So a word of caution to those runners (and to myself), especially if itís warm on Patriots Day Ė take it easy. There arenít going to be many records set at Boston this year, but thatís not the point of this yearís event.As the runner profiled on page 1 of this paper said, the 2014 Boston Marathon is about "reclaiming the race." What the bombers thought they could achieve by disrupting the finish line of the best marathon on Earth has turned into the opposite Ė the race is bigger, bolder and more special than it ever was.Weíll all be running for Krystle Campbell, Lu Lingzi and Martin Richard, who were killed by the bombs, and Sean Collier, an MIT police officer who was allegedly shot by the bombing suspects. Weíll be running for the more than 260 injured and all the families impacted by the bombings. Some of us will be running for other loved ones. Many will be raising money for charities.Weíll all be running for Boston. A lot of people leave this area for other places, but constantly talk about their love of Boston, for example in the days following last yearís Marathon. It really is the greatest city in the country, and nothing showed that more than our response after the tragedy last year. From the first respondersí work, to the makeshift memorials, to the millions raised for the One Fund Ė we truly banded together in a time of need. And this yearís Marathon will be a culmination. As President Obama said during the interfaith service following the bombings, "We will finish the race."Iím thrilled to be one of the 36,000 who has been given a chance to toe the starting line of this great race.Paul is the editor of the Waltham News Tribune.